Progressive groups have their own tax reform ideas
by Casey Seiler
Advocates for a progressive tax policy held a midday news conference at the Capitol to offer their own give-point plan ahead of the anticipated release of a report from the second of Gov. Andrew Cuomos tax-reform advisory committees. The first released their recommendations last week; the second panel, chaired by former Comptroller Carl McCall and former Gov. George Pataki, is expected to make their suggestions on changes to the property tax structure next month.
On hand were Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, Frank Mauro of the Fiscal Policy Institute, Karen Scharff of Citizen Action and Mike Kink of the Strong Economy for All Coalition.
The advocates at the Tuesday event want to see higher income tax rates for those in the top brackets, reversing what they say is decades of tweaks to the system that have only served to widen the income inequality gap in the state; the closing of corporate loopholes to end a similar situation among businesses; greater accountability in the granting of state tax credits to aid development and job creation; and changes to the property tax system that would ease the burden on localities and alleviate the pressure on homeowners whose income cant keep up with their tax bills.
Few of these suggestions are new, which begged the question (or at least it did for me) of what the groups were planning in the way of new strategies to press their case in 2014 a year in which Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers are not likely to be in a revenue-raising mood.
http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/199768/progressive-groups-have-their-own-tax-reform-ideas/